Twelve bills were up for first reading during the first official Associated Student Government meeting of the 99th session last Thursday. Of those bills, 10 involved the re-recognition of recognized student organizations.
The remaining two senate bills regarded new RSOs for the upcoming year. Those RSOs were the American Sign Language Club and the Anthropology Club.
These bills will be open for debate during the next ASG meeting next Thursday. Representatives from each organization will also be able to speak and answer questions, according to Amy Oelschlaeger, chair of the Senate Operations committee and senior elementary education major.
During the committee reports, Kim Nguyen, chair of the Diversity and Inclusion committee and art therapy and clinical counseling graduate student, laid out several of the goals that committee had for the year, such as collaborating with Deanna Williams, director of diversity programs.
“We’ll be looking at resolutions to better represent the student body, especially marginalized students,” Nguyen said. “We also had focused on disabilities and mental illness, as well as their intersections with other aspects of identity.”
To help achieve that, Nguyen said that the committee plans on organizing a disability panel this semester.
Steven Lovett, president of Faculty Senate and assistant professor of business administration, also spoke to the senate about responsibility, conflict resolution and making sustainable decisions.
Finding a common goal and putting aside personal objectives is an important step in making those sustainable decisions as a governing body, Lovett said.
“One of the most difficult challenges we have in negotiation, working together, you’re in a governing body and I’m in a governing body, is identifying what are your values,” Lovett said. “What are the things that are important to you? And then how do those things translate to describe for you that common goal.”
